3 min readMar 23, 2026 04:52 PM IST
With the presence of all-rounders progressively diminishing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the last three seasons, Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel has openly expressed his displeasure over the Impact Player substitute in the 10-team league.
Speaking ahead of the second season as the Capitals skipper on Monday, Patel said that the rule instinctively reduced the role of an all-rounder in the playing XI.
“I don’t like this rule, honestly, because I am an all-rounder (laughs),” Axar said in a media interaction when asked about the rule introduced in 2023. “Earlier, you would pick an allrounder for batting and bowling. Because of this rule, the team management goes for a particular batsman or bowler, thinking ‘Why do we need an allrounder?’
“Since I am an allrounder, I don’t like the rule. At the same time, rules are rules and we need to follow them. From a personal point of view though, I don’t like the rule,” remarked Axar.
The Impact Player sub has been regarded as the key catalyst in the rising scoring rates in the IPL over the last three seasons. A record 1294 sixes were clubbed in 2025, 170 more than the count in 2023, with the batting strike rates moving past 150 for the first time in 2024.
Leading the franchise to a fifth-place finished last year, Axar endured a minimal role with the ball last season. The left-arm spinner only collected five wickets, averaging over 57, his worst returns in over seven years. When asked if the Impact sub had left an effect on his decrease bowling rigours, Axar revealed that it was a finger injury instead that limited his bowling contributions.
“The 2025 Champions Trophy was right before the IPL. During CT, my spinning finger sustained a cut: when I was bowling, because of the seam of the ball, it kept getting cut further. It turned into a deep cut. Because of that, I couldn’t put pressure and rotation on the ball. I was bowling less because of that.
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“I was thinking of bowling only wherever needed and saving my finger. After seven matches, when my finger healed, I resumed bowling. It was not because of the Impact Player rule.”
Badani’s contrasting Impact Sub take
However, DC head coach Hemang Badani shared a different take to that of Axar’s on the impact substitute, insisting that the rule has cultivated a general change in mindset.
“Cricket has evolved to a point where 180s aren’t sufficient and you will have to have good starts at the top. If you’ve gone by and seen what’s happened at the World Cup in recent times – our skipper winning it for the second time – you’ve seen scores of 250-240. We’ve also seen similar scores last year with the IPL,” he said.
“I think once we’ve had that Impact Player, even though the World Cup does not have the Impact Player, I think it’s the intent that everyone shows of late. And that will be the way forward with cricket in this format itself,” Badani added.
